


Their nindō

by tired_celestial



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Background Bokuroo, HQ Rarepair Bang 2020, M/M, Multi, Naruto AU, but also fluff, i made the jutsus up myself so i don't know if they make sense, the three main boys are trans so yeah, there's some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23565265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tired_celestial/pseuds/tired_celestial
Summary: Three rowdy ninjas fighting in opposite sides of a war their generation didn't start.Will they be able to outsmart older generations to live the life they want? Will the be able to battle through a sea of unknown feelings arising eveytim they face each other?
Relationships: Kyoutani Kentarou/Tanaka Ryuunosuke/Yamamoto Taketora
Kudos: 1
Collections: HQ Rarepair Bang 2020





	Their nindō

**Author's Note:**

> With this fic for the HQ Rarepair Bang 2020, I was paired with Stingrae ([twitter](https://twitter.com/stingrae9) / [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/stingrae.36/) ) who drew a very beautiful scene of these fic ([twitter post](https://twitter.com/stingrae9/status/1248334621281898496?s=21) / [instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/B-xbVM7Ff0e/?igshid=asloudzl2krh) )

It happened some years ago and when no one expected it. Noble people and the higher spheres of aristocracy played their cards and had taken over some of the most prominent ninja hidden villages, limiting to the top the activities of their shinobi, slowly transforming them into just objects for others to admire and gawk upon, just letting people know who had the military power there.  
Other villages, on the contrary, were ruled by and for the shinobi in them, giving them real missions and the opportunity to define their own life and path.  
And for that, war was always present in the ninja villages if you knew where and when to look at, with the nobles always trying to extend their rule on the few remaining free shinobi villages.

Miyagi was one of these free villages, having some strong and well-known ninja but being not significant enough yet to be considered a threat.  
Like in most shinobi towns, ninja were organized in alliances. Alliances were groups of families, civilian and clan families alike, that were sort of merged together when it came to fighting style and techniques and the chakra required for it. That’s why every alliance had its own little “secret” technique, taught to the gennin, that no one outside of the alliance could -or should- learn.  
And aside clan families with their own clan jutsus training, every kid also attended the Academy to become a full fledged gennin ninja when they graduated.

****

********

  
Another school year starts and new kids start coming into the Academy. Takeda, a chunin ninja and a teacher, loved teaching this kids the basics of the ninja life.  
Even if some moments made him want to scream or, at least, understand the workings of a children’s brain.  
Like when someone just straight up challanged others to battles just because they felt like like proving themselves and Takeda had to get involved, even if it was unlikely someone would get badly injured.

But still life went on and even the most difficult kids, learnt to act like little human beings and good ninja and passed all the exams, and the year they turned twelve they were all able to become gennin.

And so, teams of three were formed and assigned one jounin as their ninja supervisor when they went on missions and so they could learn from them the most intricate things that couldn’t be taught at school but had to be learnt through experiencing them.  
And when that year Takeda was asked about the teams, he gave his opinion on them and made some changes not caring who’d be displeased with them.

****

********

  
Tanaka reached the meeting spot, a little grass area near a little pond, where he would meet his new gennin team and the one who would be their new captain and teacher. He knew beforehand that not everyone would be from Karasuno, it was normal to have people from different alliances together, but when he saw who one of his teammates was he knew this whole thing would be doomed from the start.  
Yes, on of the three gennin was Ennoshita, but that didn’t erase the fact that the other person was no other than Kyoutani Kentarou, who he had always had a rocky relationship with.  
But when he was about to say something rather insulting to the other, their teacher, Takinoue Yusuke, appeared and made them all sit down before introducing himself and making them do the same.  
He also made them work a bit on teamwork, which failed miserably, because Tanaka didn’t want to cooperate with Kyoutani, feeling that seemed to be mutual.

\- Look kids -Takinoue started- I know this is all new to you but you have to learn to cooperate with who you, at first, don’t know. If you learn to cooperate and get to know people who seem difficult to you, then reading people will be just second nature to you. That’s why you are all together. -he finished.

That first day he also taught that having kids from different alliances work together not only strengthened them but also made the hidden village of Miyagi to become more united.

****

********

  
While months passed by and the Takinoue team went on several missions where Tanaka learnt to trust and work with Kyoutani and the latter opened himself a bit more to the others.  
Truth be told, Ennoshita had to help his two teammates by kicking some sense into them to make the other two see how alike they were despite their differences, but the three kids slowly got to know each other and form some sort of friendship of their own and they all learnt the others main strengths and weaknesses.

When not on missions, they used their spare time to learn and master their own alliances secret technique.  
But they also managed to act like the teenagers they were and found some time to hang out with each other. And by that, it meant Tanaka and Kyoutani managed to find time to spar together and to one up and show off to each other while Ennoshita facepalmed at his friends stupidity.

But war doesn’t care about age and so they also had to do stuff they would like to forget but would never be able to do so. And nine months since the Takinoue team was founded, they were dragged into it when a mission backfired.  
It was supposed to be a simple C rank. Protect a head of an important trading business and be back in a week, a week and a half at most. But they were ambushed by Tokyo village ninjas.  
It seemed the city nobles were pretty interested in some of what the man sold but when refused any price offered and, they threatened him and his family until he changed his mind even when it was clear that he wouldn’t do so.

Kyoutani was the one to know they were being followed since his family had heightened senses that came with being a Kyoutani and their affinity with canids. But even with that and being prepared to be attacked, it wasn’t enough. They were outnumbered three to one and the others were all chunin and jounin. But hell be damned if they were to surrender.

Takinoue told them to protect the merchant and that he would take care of the opposing ninjas. And with that the fight started and while the Miyagi jounin took down some of their opponents, they were still more than he could take on his own. Some of the Tokyo ninja’s started attacking the gennin. And while Ennoshita’s knowledge of ninjutsu and all ninja techniques was well above the average and Tanaka and Kyoutani taijutsu attacks did help, they were just gennin against experienced ninja. That’s when Kyoutani asked his two comrades to cover for him while he did something to get more back-up which made the two Karasuno boys raise an eyebrow but still did so to protect him. And with that Kyoutani crouched and started some complex hand signs the other two hadn’t seen him do so before. They managed to take one ninja down just when Kyoutani finished and joined them again.

But Kyoutani wasn’t entirely human-looking anymore, his ears were pointy, his features seemed to be more wolf-like, sharp fangs included in that. He told it was an effect of using his clan’s secret jutsu, a jutsu that allowed them to communicate and summon all canids in a radius, Kentarou’s radius was just one quarter of a mile so far, but that he had called and the animals were on their way. He also explained that this would only last for around twenty minutes.  
When Tanaka first looked at this new Kyoutani felt his breath escape his lungs and he couldn’t do anything but stare at him, but he decided that the breathlessness was probably because he had been fighting and the surprise of Kyoutani looking like that. Because of course he didn’t find this attractive in any way, that thought made him shake his head and he forced himself to focus in battle.  
He kept missing some easy punches and opportunities because he was distracted with Kyoutani cooperating with the animals when they arrived, and Kyoutani growling, and Kyoutani’s movements. His head wasn’t focusing on what was going around him and he paid the price when he didn’t dodge a kunai thrown at him in time and so his left side was hit.

That made him stop for a second while took the kunai out and inspected the wound. Yes, he was slowly losing blood but while it was deep it was also a clean cut and so he wouldn’t just stop fighting just because of that.  
But now he wasn’t fighting, he took another moment to look around and see how everything was going. But what he saw took a toll on him.  
Ennoshita had some cuts in his face and his upper body would badly bruise but he was the still the least injured.  
Kyoutani had a slash in his face from one attack that didn’t exactly come out well. He had also about to pass out because after his clan jutsu wore off, he performed the Seijoh special jutsu on two men, a genjutsu where the target saw his worst nightmare come to life, and that added to all the physical taijutsu attacks made him have used almost all his chakra reserve.  
Takinoue had some wounds and bruises but was still standing, even his movements seemed to start slowing down.  
And that wasn’t mentioning what the animals had done on some of the opponents. Because that image just made Tanaka want to throw up, even if he did not allow himself to do so. He wouldn’t be so weak to do so. Not now when they had even numbers on their side and the Tokyo ninja looked as tired and worn out as they did. None of them wouldn’t give up just yet.

And so Tanaka just yelled for his sensei and made a flapping movement with his arms for him and Ennoshita to see, Takinoue sighed but just nodded.  
The three Karasuno ninja started doing the same hand movements in synchrony so they could use the Karasuno special jutsu to flight because nothing else could be done and they just had to go somewhere safe as fast as possible to look after their injuries. They also had to finish the mission, which had become a B rank at least.  
And the Karasuno jutsu would let them do just that even if at a great cost. They had to start by gathering as much of their chakra as they could and then use all that chakra flow and mold it to create a pair of chakra wings, crow wings to be exact.  
Five minutes had to go by until the jutsu could be used but when it was all done Takinoue just grabbed the merchant, who had hided away from the battle, while Tanaka and Ennoshita picked Kyoutani, who had finally passed out a minute or so ago, and they took flight and left the battlefield, only a couple of Tokyo ninja standing and several unconscious or dead on the floor.

They didn’t go much far because only a couple after they started flying, Tanaka started to feel very lightheaded due to blood loss and chakra exhaustion and his wings started to flicker and they and they were forced to land before Tanaka fell from the air. Still they were far enough, or so they hoped while Ennoshita tended to Tanaka’s wound and Takinoue to Kyoutani’s face while the two unconscious boys rested and regained their energy, they had deserved that sleep.  
Meanwhile Ennoshita and Takinoue interrogated the “merchant” and discovered that the reason he crossed the nobles was because while they had a legal facade, underneath they were also dealing and going against their tyrannical rule.

It took one whole day for the Tanaka and Kyoutani to fully come to their senses and be themselves again. Takinoue briefed them on everything and explained to them they would finish the mission, taking breaks and using Kyoutani’s senses to make sure no one was tracking them again.

It was a week later but with the merchant in his city again and precautions taken and his family secured too that they got back to Konoha where they were finally able to rest and get their wounds treated with more than just first aid.  
Even if they informed of the attack, the gennin did realize they weren’t the same kids they were a year ago and that they wouldn’t be able to go back.

And while Tanaka was at the hospital to have the wound properly healed, he remembered the place his mind had gone which caused him to be here in that moment. He also started thinking and remembering his interactions with Seijoh’s own wild card and how they morphed from not being able to stand each other to monosyllabic words and to full blown conversations after that. Tanaka did also realize how things had changed between them in such a natural way that they didn’t even acknowledge it. He also realized the moments where he thought he had seen Kyoutani was looking at him, or when sometimes he turned his face away and only his reddened ears were visible. And with the same force of a kick in the face, he realized that not only he had a crush on Kyoutani but that probably he loved him too. But when he tried to go out to see the boy he was head over heels for, he was pushed down and forced to lay down in the hospital bed.

It wasn’t until a week later and medical ninjutsu applied to his wound that he was free to go. Kyoutani had been out of the hospital for a couple days now and seemed to be avoiding all human interaction because no one but his family had seen him. And his family, who respected his privacy, told his friends Kyoutani felt guilty from passing out and not being as useful as he had liked and hoped to be.

Tanaka had a slight intuition of where exactly the boy could be.  
Some months ago, Kyoutani had confided in him and showed him the place he always went when he needed some peace and to disconnect.  
It was a little clearing in a forest nearby Miyagi where, when he was a young kid around five, he had found a litter of wolves where the mother died when giving birth and so he took the little cubs in his clan house where his family had taken care of them until they were strong enough to be set free again. It seemed that during that time the cubs decided Kyoutani was another one of their siblings and that they let the human visit the, always growing, wolf pack.  
So there Tanaka went, always making sure to suppress his chakra and to be as silent as he could.

And as he hoped, there was Kyoutani, sitting and letting a couple of young wolf cubs play and jump around him while he smiled at the animals antics, a smile that held no worries and just pure happiness and fondness.

Oh what Tanaka would do to for that smile to be directed at him someday. But still, he didn’t dare to enter the clearing and break the magic of the moment.  
But even if he didn’t make any movement or sound, Kyoutani looked at the tree where Tanaka was hiding in and spoke.

\- You can come out of hiding, Ryuunosuke. I’ve known you were here since before you arrived at the clearing.- it was said with no bite in it, not even the little scoff Kyoutani made.  
\- How did you know? -Tanaka asked  
\- You always had a rather similar smell to mine, different to the other boys in our class in the academy. I never knew why that was until you told the team, but mostly to me because they already knew, that you were trans. - Kyoutani explained to him while Tanaka just made a sound of understanding what that meant.But before Tanaka could say something he heard Kyoutani mutter something - It doesn’t help that during these last months your smell changed. It was almost dizzying, but i was also lured by it and I feared what that meant.- Kyoutani was looking at his legs not daring to look at Tanaka, blush hidden but still very much.

To that confession, Tanaka had no words but a little ‘oh’ sound which didn’t help the situation at all because Kyoutani misread it and stood up to leave.  
That made Tanaka’s body move on his own and grab the other’s arm to spin him around and kiss him. Kyoutani didn’t take long to kiss him back.  
And so their first kiss was shared among wolves, which was, as far as first kisses go, weird but perfectly fitting for the two Miyagi rowdy boys.

Once the kiss ended it was Tanaka’s turn to talk, and he told Kyoutani that he realized while he was in the hospital but that he had been unknowingly pining for longer than that and that the first time he realized it was when he saw his sharp fangs during the battle and that that was so distracting that he got hit. To which now he laughed because how bad the timing of realizing had been but that he was glad that happened because it made them be sharing that exact moment. And he finished by kissing Kyoutani again.

****

****

****

**  
**

Time went on and on, jutsus were mastered, training continued as normal, missions were completed, battles won and battles lost but still live always went further on as it always did.

And a year later, when they were sixteen, a strange time for peace came.  
Everyone knew it was a truce so the Chunin exams could be held, this time they were held in the ninja village of Tokyo, and so the Takinoue team and some other Miyagi gennin teams went to Tokyo.

The exam would consist on three parts. First there would be a written test, where if one member of the team failed, the whole team was out. This was mainly to get as many unfit participants as possible.  
The second task was some unknown survival activity to get even more teams out if they didn’t get through it.  
And no one knew what the third and last part of the test would be about.  
The part the Takinoue team was most worried about was the written test, mainly because one of them wasn’t what you could call an academically smart person. Tanaka wasn’t by any means stupid but book smarts was never his forte and add to that the fact, he didn’t know what would be asked in the test and you can start to imagine the extent of his anxiety, no matter how hard Ennoshita or Kyoutani helped him study. His brain never seemed to retain any of the information or ways to solve the problems he had to solve.

But when the day of the test arrived, Tanaka pushed all his nerves aside and put on his best scary face. Which only made Ennoshita smack the back of his head and to be told to behave while Kyoutani patted his shoulder to show him that he wasn’t alone.  
Those two little actions made Tanaka smile and actually helped to calm down and not to be as nervous, that whatever could be asked he would push through it and pass the exam even if only barely. He would have more than enough with that.

Or so he hoped, until they were sitting in the room and they were told they’d have 2 hours to answer as many questions as possible and that if they were caught copying twice, they were out and so would be the rest of the team. They were also told that once they were in the last 30 minutes the remaining participants would be told the last question of the exam which wasn’t written on the papers in front of him.  
Nerves started to reappear inside Tanaka but he just took a deep breath and let it all out before reading the exam where he understood none of the questions. He read them again and again and yet again for a fourth time and he still got nothing, and so in desperation he looked around the room, not to copy but to see how the others were faring.  
He looked and saw people doing weird stuff, others just answering the questions like it was nothing, others struggling but answering nonetheless, people being called out on copying for the second time and going out of the room with the rests of their teams. He also saw Nishinoya going through the exact same emotions of not understanding a single word and so they smiled to each other to show their support.  
And that little smile gave Tanaka the strength to face the damned paper in front of him once more.

He didn’t know how long had gone by, he just knew that he somehow managed to answer around a half questions using his own methods. He couldn’t care less if the answers were right or wrong, just that he managed to answer them was merit enough to him.

With that thought in mind, the last thirty minutes came by and the remaining people in the room were told that the exam was made that difficult in purpose to see who could cheat without being discovered and also as a way to test their mental strength. The chunin aspirants were also told that the last question was a do or die question, if one didn’t answer the whole team failed the Exams but that if they answered incorrectly they’d stay genin forever. They were told that was his last moment to decide if they wanted to answer or not, that if they decided not to answer and leave they would be able to become chunin during the next exams.  
Tanaka didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to leave but he didn't want to get the answer wrong and stay a genin forever. He mulled this on an on and on while some people took their leave now that they still could.  
He looked at his two peers to let them know he would get up because there was no way he could get it right and he saw the look on their eyes that they understood his reasoning but to please not stand or they wouldn’t ever forgive him, and that look made him turn around and sit still and silent for once in his life. He just looked at a fix point in the wall in front of him and dissociated for the rest of the time, and before he knew it the exam was over and they were told not leaving the room during those thirty minutes was the real test and that the ones in this room had passed no matter the number of questions answered.  
Tanaka let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, at the same time he felt like passing out now that the adrenaline in his blood was dropping to normal levels.

He and his team went out of the room just where Kyoutani kissed him to thank him for staying strong and staying in the room until the end.  
This done and Tanaka back to his normal self, they looked around and realized how little people were left. Like from all the teams, just half of them were remaining. All the other Karasuno were there, some Seijoh were too, and some other Miyagi kids were still there standing proud after surviving the torture the exam was.  
Though the feeling didn’t last for much longer because in that moment a jounin explained to them what exactly the second part of the Chunin exams consisted on and what were the objectives.

They would be send to one of the mountains near the ninja village and they would have one week to recover the items they would have on a list they would be given. Of course, there wouldn’t be enough items for all teams since this second part was done so like two thirds of the remaining gennin failed. Only the best of the best would be allowed to pass this part.  
Yes, they could take more than one item to make it more difficult to other teams to pass.  
Yes, of course fighting was allowed as long as no one died. Maiming and badly injuring was allowed, though.  
This part of the exam would start in two days and that they should use them to regain their energy and prepare a strategy, if they wanted to.

****

********

  
They had been four days in the mountain so far, and they had gotten three of the five items they had to collect. They hadn’t cross paths with any other team so far and they didn’t know how their friends were doing either.  
And so they stopped to eat and rest for a little while, two hour long guards so no one could steal what they had gathered so far.

It was the fifth day and Kyoutani’s turn to guard the camp when he heard a group of people approaching. And so he woke his teammates and informed them through hand symbols and that a group of three and told them they would pretend to be sleeping and to surprise attack if the newcomers tried to steal from them. They had only had one item left to search for and like hell they would let people take theirs.  
And that exactly what the strangers tried to do. They saw three boys sleeping and of course they had to use the chance while they had it. 

The chance didn’t last very long because the next second they had their arms immobilized and a kunai to their neck.

\- Don’t even try to do what you were about to.- Ennoshita told the boys, Tokyo boys if they were to believe their forehead protectors. The boys seemed to sense they were talking seriously because they nodded and once they were set free they sat down.

The boys introduced themselves as Akaashi, Kenma and Taketora, and before talking about anything else, they wanted something to eat. And so their food the Miyagi boys shared, Tokyo and Miyagi were on contrary sides of the war and this three almost blowed their chance to pass the exams, but it didn’t cost anything to be polite, if not nice.  
After eating, the Tokyo boys suggested they could look for their remaining items together so they could end this whole ordeal faster, and that that would be what was better because almost all teams who would be able to pass had finished and out of the mountain.

\- Two of you reek of cat, so forgive me if I don’t really trust you…- was the only thing Kyoutani said, more like growled in a threat, looking directly at Kenma and Taketora.

Taketora, who just held his gaze as if accepting a challenge from Kyoutani, told him that was because of their alliance’s special jutsu was a jutsu that made them have an unstoppable defense and that that made them have heightened reflexes and any cat like abilities as a downside, “if you could consider that one” where his exact final words.  
This made Tanaka instantly like him because Taketora had guts and didn’t back down from a challenge, not even when the most canid-like part of his boyfriend showed up.

Before no one, read as Tanaka, could do or say something else, Akaashi explained his own alliance, Fukurodani, special ability let them to make a sound similar to an owl’s hoot that trapped whoever listened to it into a trance that allowed him to control them.  
That made Kyoutani smile for a second because Fukurodani’s ability was somehow similar to Seijoh’s own. And so he and Akaashi started talking about genjutsus while Tanaka and Taketora just talked with each other about everything that came to their minds.

And this was their routine when they started working together, after Akaashi convinced Kyoutani and the later saw that the two cats weren’t bad people.  
The Tokyo team needed to get two items still and so the Miyagi boys helped them go back and get it quite easily since they already knew the traps all around the place.  
And since they didn’t have a lot of time left they decided not to stop to sleep for the night and just go to where the last item both teams needed was supposed to be, fighting together when other teams attacked them.

The Miyagi boys discovered how Taketora was specialized in bukijutsu, and that his weaponry was as fine as his skills, when he saved Kyoutani while Kyoutani was calling on some canids to come to their aid to track and retrieve one item someone had stole from them when they stopped to eat.  
Kyoutani was so focused he didn’t saw the kunais thrown his way and so Taketora stepped in and saved him with his one of his bukijutsu. Action that made him win Kyoutani’s respect and appreciation over. Taketora just shrugged because that’s what friends did, right?  
Kyoutani smiled widely at that, wolf-like features at display for him before turning away to talk with the wolves and others that answered his call for help.

Taketora just kept looking at Kyoutani’s back, not knowing how to speak or move after seeing that smile, until Tanaka put an arm around his shoulder and asked “The fangs or the pointy ears?” to which Taketora just said “yes” and, a second after, saying that the smile was also hot in itself, to which Tanaka just laughed and nodded and patted his shoulder.  
This whole exchange didn’t last more than a couple minutes but Taketora swore it went on for a couple hours and it didn’t help that while they were waiting for Kyoutani’s animals to come back with the stolen object, Tanaka just sat down next to him and talked as if nothing had happened, but seeing Tanaka be so completely trusting and not jealous made him appreciate the boy more because he realized Tanaka was the perfect partner because he had some instinct in him that told him if people had ill intentions or no.  
Taketora looked at him sideways and studied the lines of his face and the movements his Adam’s apple made when he talked. And when Kyoutani joined them to wait and talk together, Taketora did the same with Kyoutani. Kyoutani looked at him with confusion in his eyes, as if asking what was he doing that and Taketora just stopped altogether and focused on the conversation instead.

And when they started moving again, he studied how the boys muscles moved with they moved in sync. And he realized it was that synchronization that comes from knowing each other, from having experiences together and from being together for quite a long time. And he knew he was playing a dangerous game, finding not only one but two boys from an enemy ninja village attractive, two boys that were also dating each other.  
But he decided to use their time of truce the Chunin exams offered him even if he knew he wouldn’t be able to act either way.  
He knew he wasn’t being specially subtle with his staring but if anyone noticed this, no one mentioned it and he thanked them.

Time went on and they finally arrived at the destination the last object they needed were. There was only one little problem.  
There was only one of it left.  
The all looked at each other, and as suddenly as their sort of friendship had appeared it vanished and they were enemies again. And so they fought.  
It was a very even fight because they had been able to see the other’s styles during the short period of time they shared.  
At last, the Miyagi boys weren’t fast enough to cover their ears when Akaashi, who had the decency to apologize beforehand, used the Fukurodani jutsu and so they were completely under the Tokyo boys mercy. They didn’t use it to hurt them but to just grab the object and leave them unable to move or do anything. And when they snapped out of it, the three Tokyo ninja were nowhere to be seen and they had too search their own way out and work hard to get that last item one way or another, not caring much who they had to fight, not trusting anybody else but the other two. Not anymore.  
And once they got the damned last item the got out of the mountain as fast as they could before the last hours of the last day of the week were over.  
And when they arrived at the building, Takinoue was there waiting for them. Their teacher congratulated them on getting so far on the Chunin exams and escorted them to the room all who passed the second part was. And just before leaving them alone again, he told the boys to be very cautious because probably nothing was as it seemed in that last remaining part.

Not long after that, they arrived at the room where everyone was waiting for them since they were the last team to pass.  
In this room, they were reunited with the Tokyo trio and though they had fought just hours before, there were no hard feelings between them, the Miyagi boys knowing the others just did what had to be done and that they, too, would have done the same if they had had the chance.  
They didn’t have time to say much to each other because not only a minute after the Takinoue team entered the room, a Tokyo jounin entered the room and congratulated all the teams there for having passed the second test too and then explained hat the third test would take place in to weeks time so they could rest and train. They were also told that it would consist in an individual test where they would fight some other wannabe-chunin in the room and that the pairs would be chosen at random, and that it didn’t matter who lost or win as much as how they fought and analyzed the situation.

****

********

  
And so training the Takinoue team did, together and by themselves, polishing the techniques they already knew and to master the ones they always half-assed.  
Between training and planning strategies on how to beat certain opponents the Miyagi boys didn’t have much time to think on what was going on around them and how slowly the Tokyo nobles were preparing to make their next big move.  
And so the two weeks passed and the boys were as prepared as they could be, confident in their abilities and trusting all the training they’ve done.  
And without much ado the fights started, everyone giving their best and trying to show off intelligence and good fighting abilities to the exam proctors who would decide who would become a chunin ninja and who would stay a genin for a while more.

But no matter how anxious the Miyagi teens were to know their results on their way back to Miyagi, their excitement died down the moment they realized what had happened.  
All the Miyagi alliances leaders were still there in Tokyo for the exams results, leaving Miyagi practically defenceless during the duration of the exams, believing everyone would follow through the truce established for when the exams had to take place. And Tokyo seemed to take advantage of that fact, sending some jounin and ANBU to hijack the few people in the government building and not letting anyone inside the town to make any intent of contact with the outside or the ninjas currently in Tokyo would pay the consequences.

And with that, Miyagi was swept into the war once more.  
The nobles now stated a curfew for everyone, and groups of more than five were prohibited. The nobles tried to rule with an iron fist while the Miyagi ninjas resisted, fighting for their freedom and their right to be able to act as they wanted and not the mindless object-soldiers the bourgeois wanted them to be.  
But much to the nobles despair, the seed of discord they tried to plant time and time again never worked but actually made the Miyagi ninjas more and more close with every attempt they started.

****

********

  
Months went by in this situation, ninjas from other cities under noblemen rule were sent there to try and deplete the Miyagi forces and attacks, but nothing seemed to work but the always constant threat of the alliances leaders held as ransom in Tokyo. They knew they wouldn’t be killed because that would actually make a civil war start, not on Miyagi but in Tokyo itself too, and everything would be lost to them then.  
And for the same reason Miyagi couldn’t stop fighting. They couldn’t afford to stop being one of the few strongholds that fought for what being a ninja meant in its origins.

At last, Miyagi regained its autonomy after a heated battle fought on two fronts.  
The recently promoted to chunin ninjas came up with a plan. They would assign two big ninja teams, ones pretending to surrender and obey the new rule, and this way no one would notice some chunin going out to Tokyo to bring the news themselves to Tokyo as a symbol of how deep their humiliation was.  
The first front was, obviously, Miyagi ninjas against the jounin and ANBU protecting the nobles and the government building. There were casualties in both sides, even if the outsiders were first taken by surprise. Still, the outsiders were highly outnumbered and forced to surrender few hours after the start of the battle and now they were the prisoners.  
The second front was in Tokyo, were the alliances leaders started standing their ground and fighting back, not allowing any more torture to befall on them while their people could possibly be suffering in misfortune. It did help when some of their recently promoted to chunin came to help them.

The Takinoue team was among the chosen chunin to go to the snakepit Tokyo was to help their families.  
They fought several three-ninja battalions but still, it seemed all too easy to free everyone.  
And, effectively, they had been leaded to a trap and the majority of military force Tokyo owned was waiting for the Miyagi ninjas while they came out.

It was then that the real battle started. A battle that future generations would see as the starting point of something way bigger than what the ones involved imagined in the moment.  
It was a battle that in theory shouldn't have taken a very long time. For god’s sake, it was barely thirty against about two hundred, there was no way Miyagi could win it no matter how well armed and trained they were.  
But they already counted with that. They had been under Tokyo rule for around a year until then and had a slight idea something like this could happen.  
They didn’t plan on winning, they planned on destroying as many stronghold buildings Tokyo had as well as warehouses they surely had.  
And while some teams more focused on stealth focused on preparing the explosive traps, the more physical ones distracted the Tokyo ninjas so they wouldn’t notice.

Takinoue team was in the latter group, as well as both Ukai senior and junior. And along with some other ninja powerhouses Miyagi had, their counterattack began.  
Of course they didn’t have it easy but they had to buy as much time as possible and so they all used all the tricks and wild cards they had up their sleeves.

Of course Tokyo had their own plethora of powerful ninjas and that showed too.  
Among them was Taketora’s team, all three of them chunin now too. And the two teams that met during the Chunin exams was destined to fight against each other once again. None of them very excited of the outcome of the situation that brought them all together once more. Still, they gave their all.  
But even while fighting, they found time to speak.  
Well, more like Taketora saying “We’re like the Uchiha and Senju’s of our times” to Tanaka and Kyoutani while they fought, and Kyoutani replying with “Not the best analogy” while Tanaka said “Not the best moment to admit you’re into us both, Tora” at the same time.  
Taketora just shrugged, he didn’t regret saying that at all. He actually had lifted a heavy weight out of his shoulders. He didn’t hear a “not interested” per se, just that it wasn’t the best moment which, to be honest, he had to admit was a very true and valid observation.

The battle between the two teams kept going until a distant bird song was heard and, suddenly, the Miyagi boys started to retreat and take the fighting to the outsides of the city just in time for when the first explosions went off and the Tokyo ninjas realized what was really going on here and what the three Miyagi ninjas they had fought also did.

And just like that, the battle was over.  
The Miyagi side was the one with the most injured and deaths, but the Tokyo being the one who suffered the greatest losses. Loses they would needed time to repair. Time they didn’t have now that they knew what Miyagi and what they stood for were capable of pulling off just right under their own noses.

Miyagi used the time they bought with the Tokyo battle, not only to heal their injured and grief the ones they had lost but also to strengthen their defences and to get the word of what had happened out there, in the search for allies for what would surely become one, and hopefully the last, of the great ninja wars.

****

********

  
And what everyone thought would be just a couple months of time while both sides recovered their full strength stretched for a couple years. Chunin becoming jounin at some point in time.  
Yes, some battles were fought but not important enough to threaten no one's power.

Everyday, Miyagi got more allies. Towns, that following their example, ideated ways to get their freedom back. Businesses that helped them by giving them materials they needed while making it nearly impossible to prove that was actually happening.  
Yet nothing really important to make Tokyo so desperate as to attack.

Still, Miyagi had something that Tokyo didn’t know about.  
Something that if the lords ruling in there knew would start to realize their power was crumbling down, their empire destroyed without any battle they could play martyr afterwards.  
Because war wasn’t always won by the ones who won the most battles but the ones who won on the old game of politics and spies.

Some of the most powerful alliances inside the own city of Tokyo city were still pretending to be wrapped around the nobles fingers but were actually feeding important intel to Miyagi.  
First it was Nekoma, Kenma being the one to explain that during the Tokyo battle the Miyagi ninjas they fought actually made sure they were outside city borders when the explosions happened and thus saving their lives.  
Fukurodani were quick to follow the example once Akaashi seconded Kenma’s story who, alongside Taketora, were prepared to explain several more reasons as to why they should play the part of being faithful to Tokyo while they weren’t. Though, in the end, it turned out not to be.  
The head of the Nekoma alliance, Nekomata Yasufumi, told them that they had been doing exactly that for longer than the chunin knew and that only he and Kuroo, as current captain, knew.  
That, of course, also meant Bokuto knew, because Kuroo couldn’t keep a secret from Bokuto when they were together, but that Fukurodani had been waiting for the perfect moment and excuse to become double agents for Miyagi, and that it had just been offered to them.

And with that, started the little escapades Taketora’s team did to Miyagi every once in a while. And yes, while they spent time there, they told them new information and in exchange they were told some unimportant Miyagi business and information they could feed the noblemen with.  
Other times, they spared and went all out so it looked like they had fought and weren’t able to gather new intel.  
That also helped Taketora learn more from the two rowdy Miyagi boys he had been crushing on for years now.  
Like when Kyoutani offered to show them to show them the new jutsu he had finally mastered. It was his clan’s family final jutsu, that allowed them to fully shapeshift into a, in Kentarou’s case, a wolf. One second they were talking with the Kyoutani they all knew, and the next they had a huge wolf in front of them.  
Still that wolf was unmistakably Kyoutani with blond fur all around but the ears and around the eyes, which were black, as if he had to somehow maintain the two black stripes his hair had.  
Taketora was so shocked that even his cat like instincts shut down for once and just petted Kyoutani’s wolf form once the later gave him the okay with a huf while Tanaka looked the scene with a growing and knowing smirk in his face before he joined the group by hugging Taketora from behind and leaning his head on Tora’s shoulder.

Or how pleasantly surprised Taketora was to see how open everyone was here with everything.  
Like when he saw Takeda and Ukai jr. out on a date after a long day of working. Or how much second hand embarrassment he sometimes got from Oikawa when the jounin was around Iwaizumi, who Taketora didn’t quite understand how he did stand Oikawa until he saw the utter lovesick look in Iwaizumi’s eyes whenever he heard Oikawa ramble about something he was interested in.  
Or when Tanaka and Kyoutani told Tora that they were also trans after he admitted it to them, and how Taketora was surprised they were so open about it. He explained to the two boys that when he came out as trans was such a big deal that Nekoma did face some consequences on the aftermath, for which Taketora had blamed himself for years until he understood it wasn’t his fault that the ones on the government had such retrograde and bigot views on everything. He didn’t even notice he had started crying after telling them their story until Tanaka wiped his tears with his thumb before he and Kyoutani hugged him until he smiled again. And even after that, they stayed in the same position because they were too comfortable to move and because they could stay in silence while looking at the sunset and the stars that followed it.

It wasn’t that Tokyo wasn’t accepting, because the ninja were, but the ruling rich people didn’t like it so much and so everything had to stay behind closed doors, and to be public and open and unafraid was seen as an act of defiance on itself.  
Taketora remembered how much of an uproar it was when Kuroo and Bokuto made their relationship official and actually challanged the noblemen to try and stop them, if they even dared to do so.

****

It wasn’t until other big and important ninja cities like Nagano or Saitama or Fukushima, to just mention a few, rebelled against the nobles ruling their cities and policing their life as if they were just puppets, that those who once not so long ago controlled up to a good eighty percent of all ninja villages realized that they now only had only had under they power some spare important and powerful alliances here and there. Spare alliances all now sent to move to Tokyo, their last actual stronghold of the once great empire.  
All this movements of alliances make it quite clear to everyone what was going on and what that meant. And Nekoma and Fukurodani had their parts to play not to be discovered so the ones who were most of the time moving between Miyagi and Tokyo, had to go back to their cities and alliances.  
But before their departure, Taketora got a few hours to use as he pleased and so he used to spend his last moments there with Kyoutani and Tanaka.

The three boys mostly about talked about what they wanted to happen in the future, if it all went the way they wanted it to go. They also talked about what they would do after the war, what they wanted to become after they could decide not to be soldiers on a war started by older generations.  
Tanaka talked about how he wanted to become a taijutsu teacher to kids and people who, like himself, weren’t the best at ninjutsu and preferred to used taijutsu. Kyoutani, surprising exactly no one, wanted to work with his wolf pack and see if he could ever convince them to become trained wolf ninjas and study which kind of jobs and applications that could bring to the ninja who worked with them. Taketora turned out to be the only one who didn’t really know what he wanted to do in the future, having some things to sort out before being able to do so.  
But before Taketora could explain on what he meant with that, Kenma and Akaashi came by so they could all leave as soon as possible.

It wasn’t as if most alliances from Miyagi itself and other ninja villages were not slowly gathering near Tokyo, helped of course with the false intel the lords had been fed with.  
But they were all far away and apart from each other as not to alert the ones inside the city that they were preparing for the upcoming battle. The battle that would end this war that had been going on for way too long and at the cost of way too many victims and casualties in both sides.  
Battle that started not even one week after all Miyagi ninjas had finally arrived there.

Battle purposefully started by Miyagi and some other free ninja villages and cities that came when asked for aid. This making the city to be attacked from different points and so creating several fighting fronts, this way spreading Tokyo’s forces thin.

And like it always happened in fights and soon-to-be big ninja battles, buildings collapsed and the wreck was visible throughout the air. Thus alerting the rest of their allies that the fighting had started and that they could come and join in and fight for what they stood for.  
The nobles, hiding in safety somewhere, relaying on the alliances and ninjas still under their rule to protect and give their lives up for them.  
But, soon enough, one by one, starting with Nekoma and Fukurodani, most alliances from the own city of Tokyo “defected” and joined Miyagi and all the other free villages to help fight for the freedom of all shinobi, including their own.

Seeing themselves overwhelmingly outnumbered, the few ninjas that still fought for the nobles and the only life they had known existed, surrendered, putting their lives in the hands of their foes. Foes who spared their lives and told them to sit and wait what was about to happen and that they’d be free to go after that.

****

********

  
Once it was sure there were no one was trapped under the ruins of the buildings that were demolished or blown up, the search for the ones who once were the sovereigns of the city started.  
Everywhere they searched for them there was no sign of them ever being there.  
And for hours they looked at every place they could think off, and it wasn’t until someone pointed they could be hiding in some underground locations that everyone in the search parties thought of checking the different underground prisons.  
And underground they were, but not on one of the prisons they knew of but in a meeting hall no one had knowledge of before then and that they found because someone thought of doing a jutsu to dispel any illusion genjutsu all around them.  
Once the now former rulers had been found, it was the own Tokyo ninjas who explained the situation to them, because if they were to start taking control over their lives they might as well start by doing something little and symbolic yet important for and to them.  
And since Nekoma and Fukurodani had been the ones who first started all the Tokyo movement, they were the ones to put everything to work.  
And it was the Tokyo team that started it all who took the reigns of the situation.

\- As of now, the ninja village of Tokyo is, starting effective immediately, under new management.- Akaashi started- It being a council of ninjas, who will discuss all important decisions, and who will let ninjas be free and be their own person. -he finished.

\- Thus allowing our will as ninjas to be passed down to the generations to come. Kids allowed to be kids instead of turned into pretty little objects for you to own. -Taketora added, resentment and anger setting on his voice as he said that last sentence, remembering his own experiences as he let the words come out of his mouth.

That done, there was a reunion where all alliances were invited to attend and were they discussed what would be the future of the former rulers.  
At the end and after a lot of arguing and discussing it, it was decided the nobles would no longer hold the title and that while they’d have the basics to live a healthy life, all they owned would be sold or donated and their wealth distributed to those who needed it and to reconstruct the city. They would also always be under surveillance of some chosen ANBU ninja and never again being able to hold any kind of position of power.  
They also decided who would be part of the council of ninjas who’d be running the city from then on. One person from every alliance had to be chosen, Nekomata-san being Nekoma’s choice, and Yamiji Takeyuki being Fukurodani’s.

After every decision was already being taken care off, Taketora just started wandering around just letting his feet take him anywhere. And, unsurprisingly, he found himself gravitating towards the forces Tanaka and Kyoutani were, and he knew he would have been pulled by their energy wherever they might have been.  
And when the other two noticed he had arrived, they just pulled him into a group hug before kissing him as if to make sure he really was there and alive. Not realizing what they had just done until minutes later while they talked and being surprised at how natural and how good kissing Taketora had felt, as if it was just one thing they had been doing for years instead of being their first kiss ever with him.  
It was also in that moment when it dawned upon the three boys how slowly and naturally they had molded Taketora into the relationship during the years they had known and spent time with him and also how well the boy fitted into it that they hadn’t even realized they had probably been in some sort of polyamorous relationship without none of them even realizing they were.

That simple fact made the three young men start laughing and just deciding to make up for some lost time after they talked and decided that, yes, they were officially boyfriends now and laughing some more after realizing how wonderful it felt to call the other two “my boyfriends”.

And the next day, when they were ready, they told their friends and alliances they were dating, their alliances answers consisting of the three boys being told that they were so happy for them and that they were officially the last ones to know they were dating. That making the three shinobi blush in embarrassment because they didn’t know they had been that obvious yet oblivious at the same time.

****

********

  
Few months after the war ended and the ninja village of Tokyo was running smoothly, already used to their new system and their newfound freedom and will, Taketora moved out of Tokyo and into Miyagi to live in the same house with the two men he loved.

Tanaka becoming the taijutsu teacher he wanted, being loved both by the children and the adults he sometimes trained alike.  
Kyoutani, being able to achieve his dream of studying the wolves he saved a long time ago and using his clan’s jutsu to communicate with them, training them to become ninja wolves as well. That meant the wolves had to live with the three boys most of the times, until the pack finally and officially moved in to live with them too.  
Taketora ended up becoming some sort of representative of Tokyo on Miyagi and he just went on some missions while as a bridge between villages to start conversations when it was needed.

Yes, maybe their house was a weird clash of their personalities and alliances. And yes, maybe their family was just the three of them and a pack of wolves who accepted them as their kin.  
But Tanaka, Taketora and Kyoutani always made it work because that was the way of the ninja. The nindō and the life _THEY_ had chosen.  
That was their home and their family, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
